Wednesday, February 22, 2012

OC Arts Center Recycled Arts Project

I was looking back on some projects done in the past and wanted to share them with you. In April of 2011 a group of volunteers for the OC Arts Center set up a booth with a free arts activity for children and parents to work on together at the San Juan Capistrano 50th Anniversary Celebration Festival. In honor of the great city's anniversary, our project became a small-scale model of old town San Juan Capistrano and the mission made out of recycled and refurbished materials donated by supporters of the OC Arts Center. The volunteer team made an outlined map of the city on a 4' x 8' piece of particle board. We cut cardboard into uniform pieces that could easily be pieced together to make a building. We also used native floral arrangements supported by floral foam donated from a local nursery. Many "trash" items were used including egg cartons, bamboo curtains, beans and birdseed, sponges, plastic cups, and other common household items. This activity educated the children about the importance and usefulness of considering recyclable items and junk as potential materials for art, along with the value of community and togetherness. By working together with all sorts of members of the community a beautiful, unique, and highly creative sculpture was made of historic downtown San Juan Capistrano. The kids loved it, we nearly ran out of space for all the buildings, cars, and trees that were being made. Check out the photos below to see how it evolved.